Russ Banham is among the world’s foremost corporate historians and business journalists. His 35 books comprise the anniversary histories of Ford, Boeing, Airstream, Bosch, Coors, New York Life, and many other large, midsized, and smaller enterprises that are publicly traded, private, or family owned. Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize, Russ has written thousands of feature articles for Forbes, Chief Executive, The Economist, Financial Times, Euromoney, Fortune, Inc., CFO, Corporate Board Member, The Journal of Commerce, and The Wall Street Journal. Russ’s comprehensive knowledge of business and his renown as a corporate historian prompted Harvard Business School to ask him to write its centennial history. His two-edition history of the Greater Washington Region, The Fight for Fairfax, is required reading in many colleges and universities.
Russ’s books have received much acclaim. The New York Times review of The Ford Century stated, “Not only the Ford fan but the most casual student of American industrial history can get caught up in the saga, from the highs of Henry’s invention of the moving assembly line and the explosive effect of his Model T on the masses to his elevation to near-holy utopian prophet, to the lows—30 years later—of a senile Henry adrift at the helm of a company that had become . . . well, savor the story yourself.” The book was selected by CBS as one of the five best books ever written about Detroit. January magazine hailed The Ford Century as “a masterpiece of automotive writing.”
Aviation Week called Russ’s history of Boeing, Higher, a “meticulously researched overview” that “masterfully captures the broad history and spirit of (Boeing) as it has evolved over the decades.” The Wall Street Journal stated, “Higher ably commemorates Boeing’s enduring achievement, gliding nimbly through its triumphs of design, engineering and manufacture and, not least, its memorable contributions to wars won.” The Chicago Tribune wrote of Higher, “[Banham] obtained crucial access to the aerospace company’s archives to produce never-before-seen photographs and inside stories . . . tracing the company from its start in a boathouse in Seattle in July 1916 to becoming the world’s largest aerospace company and a technology innovator.”
Russ manages every aspect of the editorial process, ensuring that books authored for corporate, academic, and institutional clients capture the themes relevant to their culture and long-term strategy.